Board Election Could Alter Course Of DPS “Reform”

Depending on your point of view, the Denver Public School system is either a work in progress headed in the right direction or it is in dire straits, marching blindly down the wrong path.

While individual schools in all corners of the city are having great success at raising the bar of student achievement, Denver families continue to opt for private campuses and other metro area school systems at an alarming pace, as DPS fails to graduate some 45 percent of the students who continue their education into the 9th grade. Statistics indicate that of the DPS graduates who go on to college, some 60 percent require remedial courses to prepare for the course load they will face.

While the need to do better is obvious, what is generating considerable debate is what approach will stem the tide of choice-outs and dropouts, and bring DPS closer to its goal of being one of the finest public school systems in the country.

The seven-member, volunteer, elected DPS Board of Education is directed by state law to formulate and approve the policies that guide what programs and priorities will impact the district’s 140 schools and 75,000+ students. The superintendent of schools serves at the board’s behest.

On Nov. 1, voters will decide who will represent District 1 (southeast Denver), District 5 (northwest Denver) and the school district as a whole, filling Theresa Peña’s at-large position being vacated due to term limits.

The November election could reverse – or strengthen – the current single vote (4-3) majority that has approved Superintendent Tom Boasberg’s Denver Plan reforms – heavily focused on new school construction and charter school designations – with little objection. A minority that includes District 5’s Arturo Jimenez, District 3’s Jeanne Kaplan and District 2’s Andrea Mérida think far more effort needs to be expended on supporting existing neighborhood schools throughout the district to better serve the students and the community at large.

The Nov. 1 election will be conducted on a mail-in basis, with ballots going out sometime in mid-October.

DISTRICT 1 CANDIDATES Southeast Denver

Anne Rowe

Following a career in investment banking, Anne Rowe entered the world of small business, founding and managing a publishing company for more than 20 years and a legal placement and concierge business for more than 10 years. She earned a bachelor’s degree at Stanford University, and an MBA from the University of Denver.

A southeast Denver resident since 1990, Rowe’s three girls all attended Slavens K-8 and George Washington H.S. She was a member of the Committee to Reopen Slavens School and president of the PTA. She was founding co-chair, and executive board member, of A+ Denver, as well as co-chair, DPS Advisory Committee on Immigration and Integration.

Rowe believes the flexibility provided administrators through the Innovation Schools Act will attract “great school leaders to an environment where they have the autonomy and creative freedom to build a school culture based on the needs of their particular school community. Strong leaders will attract excellent teachers.

“The district must put into place a strategy that creates and sustains a pipeline of strong school leaders and high-quality teachers, as the current assistant principal system has not proven to be an effective pipeline for this development.”

Rowe is a believer in “data-driven decision making. The more useful information and data available to parents and students around their educational choices, the better.” Her top priority for District 1 is to “encourage and provide support to existing southeast Denver middle schools and high schools as they pursue innovation status and the autonomy necessary to lead their schools to best serve the needs of their students.”

She intends to push for “a successful bond/mill levy increase in 2012 ... tied to strategically improving schools to create education environments that best serve the needs of DPS students. Community input in determining what to include is critical.”

Community organizer and policy analyst Emily Sirota is focused on helping Colorado nonprofits take a seat at the table in the crafting of public policy.

The product of 16 years of public education, Sirota has a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Indiana University, and a master’s degree in Social Work with a focus in community practice from the University of Denver.

As an aide to U.S. Senator Evan Bayh, she specialized in health and social policy. She also served as aide to U.S. Rep. Baron Hill, specializing in tax, budget and housing policy, and was active in Montana’s effort to broaden access to early childhood education.

First on Sirota’s list of priorities is an emphasis on focusing DPS resources on existing neighborhood schools, while engaging parents, community members, teachers and principals in policy discussions. “I think that public education is really a cornerstone of a strong community, and a strong Denver. Neighborhood schools are a major piece of that, and so that’s where I would like the focus to be placed. No matter where a child lives,” she stated, “they should be able to walk to the school near their house and get a great education.”

Sirota said, “My first priority to the southeast community is to address the middle school issue. We have several elementary schools that are at or above capacity, but a terribly high attrition rate at the middle school level. Parents do not perceive the middle school options in DPS to be rigorous enough for their children, and so they leave district schools.”

The Denver Plan that currently guides DPS policies “is a fantastic roadmap,” she said, “but we need more specific and concrete strategies for achieving our goals. The overall vision needs to be clarified to the community. There’s much to get excited about, but many community members have stopped listening. We will be successful when we come together as a community and focus on the needs of our children.”

With parents who claim a half century of teaching experience between them, Jennifer Draper Carson’s mind has never strayed far from education.

A northwest Denver resident for the past six years, she has worked at North H.S., and Academia Sandoval, and volunteers regularly at both Edison Elementary and North.

Prior to starting her family, Carson spent a dozen years in software sales with Fortune 500 companies. She has a bachelor’s in Political Science from Occidental College, and a master’s in Nonprofit Management from Regis University.

A former supporter of incumbent Arturo Jimenez, Carson is running against him this time. “We still have too high a choice-out rate and the dropout rate is unacceptable,” she said.

Decreasing the dropout rate in District 5; increasing accountability for education outcomes at all levels; and focusing intense efforts on English language acquisition and reading for ECE–third grade students are high on her to-do list.

“Northwest Denver suffers from the highest dropout rate, and highest level of unsatisfactory rated schools in the city. We have to use every method at our disposal to give our children the opportunity they need to succeed,” said Carson.

Boasberg “is not communicating with all the constituents of DPS,” she stated. “There are large groups of parents that don’t understand what’s happening inside their schools. Because of a lack of communication, there is a lack of trust, and a lingering sense that many decisions have been predetermined.”

Carson’s overarching goal is to “deliver high-performing, proven options to District 5, from ECE-12th grade, to attract back our dropouts and choice-outs, and lower the remediation rate.” District-wide, she would “redirect resources and efforts to ensure ALL of our children can read at a third-grade level in the third grade.”

Board of Education vice-president Arturo Jimenez is running to retain his seat on the DPS Board for his second four-year term.

A lifelong resident of District 5, Jiminez has degrees in Sociology and Ethnic Studies from CU Boulder and a Juris Doctor degree from CU School of Law. He is self-employed, specializing in the area of immigration law.

Data can help illuminate the success or lack of success of a school, but it does not present the entire picture, said Jimenez. “Graduation rates, college acceptance rates, and proficiencies are one part, but we also should help parents understand the opportunities afforded to their children at various schools,” he said.

“When restructuring West H.S., I met weekly with a group of parents, teachers and students to ensure that they were involved. When the community has ownership in the culture and governance of a school, they will provide valuable support.”

A longer school day has a critical role in improving student success, said Jimenez. “In order to help them meet the challenges of our rapidly changing world, we must first and foremost ensure that they have the time to gain the skills and knowledge they need. We need a longer school day and year, with improved programming.

“We must embrace a full and rich curriculum, that respects the whole child. Over-emphasizing the most basic reading and math skills, to the exclusion of other important skill sets, will not help our students thrive in a 21st-century world.

“The 21st century is not a ‘basic’ time, so our children will need much more than ‘the basics’ to thrive. Leading a free and democratic life requires more than knowledge of science, technology and math. How will our children fare compared to children who graduate speaking two, three or even more languages? Instead of promoting an English-only mind-set, we should help all of our children learn multiple languages.”

South High School history teacher Dr. Frank Deserino ran unsuccessfully for the District 1 School Board seat won by Bruce Hoyt in 2007. Deserino declares that, “As a teacher, a parent and a taxpayer, I know what makes our schools thrive. I am the person who will finally bring to this school board the voices of parents, the community at large, teachers, and yes, students too.”

Along with his master’s degrees in American History, Political Science and Constitutional History, Deserino holds a doctorate in American History with emphasis in race, gender and labor studies.

“Taxpayers need to know where the money is going,” he said. “What it’s being used for and how it makes a difference for our kids.” To this end, Deserino wants DPS accounts to be independently audited and open to public review, and district employees to be evaluated and paid in light of how their work supports student achievement.

He would halt the “shell game” of closing schools and shifting students based on “inconsistent test data, which in turn lacks cultural inclusion, devastates our parents, and leaves our learners behind.” Students should be “co-architects” of their educational path, says Deserino, and in that capacity be included on the collaborative decision-making teams that help to set school policies.

“It’s time to admit that we are not providing opportunity for every child in the Denver Public Schools, so we must be willing to continually self-assess and react to the full scope of data, even if it’s unflattering.” He would urge the district to use “testing and assessment responsibly and effectively so that teachers spend more time teaching and kids spend more time learning.”

Allegra “Happy” Haynes is a familiar name to those who follow Denver politics. She served Denver City Council as the District 11 representative for 13 years, worked in the administrations of mayors Federico Peña and John Hickenlooper, and worked most recently at DPS as Chief Community Engagement Officer.

Haynes is running on a three-pronged platform: closing the achievement gap for minority students; capturing the successful elements of high-performing schools for use in those not reaching the achievement bar; and involving parents and the community-at-large in discussions of the efforts DPS is making to improve performance throughout the district.

While Haynes believes Superintendent Boasberg “needs to improve on his political processes,” she said that if a vote were called, she “would vote to keep him, on the basis of the improvements that have been achieved under his leadership, while pushing for much accelerated results over the next couple of years.”

Haynes applauds the state’s Innovation Schools Act, designed to give schools “as much control as possible over time, money and talent, while being held accountable by the district for achieving results.”

She also supports DPS’ Far Northeast plan designed to turn around the direction of chronically low-performing schools in that quadrant of the city. “It is the first effort to address problems systematically by focusing on the larger feeder pattern from ECE through high school,” said Haynes. And, she would urge Superintendent Boasberg to “Continue the teacher effectiveness project (LEAP – Leading Effective Academic Practice). It seems to be maintaining the right balance between supporting teacher growth and providing for accountability.”

A product of the California public school system, Roger Kilgore has been a Denver resident for the past decade. He has a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Stanford University, and a master’s from MIT in Technology and Policy, supplemented by more than 30 years of experience as a business consultant in water resources engineering.

Kilgore believes DPS is “overly focused on new schools,” and “is missing the opportunity to apply the lessons learned in recent years from our successful traditional, charter, innovation and magnet schools to all of our public schools. For instance, most of our new schools employ a longer school year as a critical component of raising student achievement. If (the DPS community) agrees that this is important, we should implement such changes broadly, to wherever they would be beneficial.

“We need great schools in every neighborhood, not just some,” he said. “Neighborhood schools (should be) the schools of choice. The school, along with recreation centers, libraries and parks, is integral to a community that supports children and families.

“I see a future in Denver where every parent and child has the chance to proudly choose to attend the school in their neighborhood and (students) can again walk to school with the confidence that the doors of opportunity are open to everyone.”

In evaluating student and school performance, he feels that “accountability and performance measurement should be data-informed, not data-driven. Teaching is an art as well as a science.”

While supporting Superintendent Boasberg’s overall efforts at district improvements, “he could do more to improve collaboration with the board, teachers and the community,” said Kilgore.

A public school graduate herself, Jacqui Shumway has had children in Denver Public Schools since 1994. Her youngest will graduate in 2016. The New York native earned a bachelor of science degree in Finance from Stephen F. Austin State University, and a master’s in Kinesiology from University of Northern Colorado.

Shumway is Colorado chairperson for the National Coalition for Promoting Physical Activity and is on the Colorado Governor’s Council for Physical Fitness. She also serves as Western Region director for the National Association of Health and Fitness. She and her husband operate the Tai Chi Project locally.

“I am running for the DPS School Board At-Large,” said Shumway, “because research shows that children educated in the arts – visual, musical and physical –learn better overall.” Her website and campaign literature ask: “What if the Hokey Pokey IS what it’s all about?”

Shumway states, “For years we have balanced the budget in the schools by eliminating art, music and physical fitness from the curriculum. They should not be considered ‘extracurricular.’”

She also believes public schools have a responsibility to provide for and educate our children on elements of good nutrition. “Research shows that good nutrition contributes greatly to educating the spirit. As rates of obesity and depression rise among young people, the need exists to educate our children to do more in life than take multiple-choice tests. Our schools should be just as responsible for a child’s fitness and creativity level as they are for their math scores. When we separate the brain and the body, we compromise the spirit.”

Our teachers must be encouraged to model healthy behaviors, said Shumway. “We need to do more than think outside the box,” she said. “We need to act outside the box. We need to lighten up and make learning fun for all children, parents and teachers.”

Software engineer John Daniel sees “a talent drain from this city when what we need is to be attracting talent. We need to retain our students. The future success of our city depends on it.”

A Wyoming native, Daniel has been a resident of the Baker neighborhood for 30 years. His campaign literature lists three priorities: “I want to balance the DPS budget, cut administrative costs in the district by 10 percent, and lower our teacher-student ratios.”

Daniel has mixed feelings on the use of vouchers to offset costs of private education. “I like vouchers because they give poor people a chance to go to good schools. All our children deserve the opportunity to have the best education possible. However, many good schools are church affiliated, and I’m not comfortable with supporting church tuition with tax dollars. I’m not sure how to resolve that as of yet. Better yet, we need to do more to create great schools in our neighborhood schools.”

Parents hold the key to the success of a child’s educational experience, said Daniel. “I want to get parents more intimately involved in their children’s education. They were our first teachers – they taught us how to walk and to talk. I want to get them more involved in teaching our students to read.”

More time in school is a key element to raising achievement levels and lowering the dropout rate, said the candidate. “We need to get more time in the classroom, and more results out of the time that’s spent in class. I’d like to see a longer day and a longer school year.”